Cop supplier



May 19, .1953

w. SCHWEITER COP SUPPLIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 15, 1947 ATTORNEYMay 19, 1953 w. SCHWEITER COP SUPPLIER Filed Feb. 15, 1947 2Sheets-Sheet 2 ORNEY Patented May 19, 1953 cor SUPPLIER WalterSchweitcr, Horgen, Switzerland, assignor t Maschinenfabrik Schwciter A.G., a corporation of Switzerland Application February 15, 1947, SerialNo. 728,833 In. Switzerland Mai-ch11, 1946 8 Claims. 1

This invention relates to mechanismsfor supplying empty cops to copwinding machines of the type in which full cops. are replaced by emptyones automatically at the end of the winding operation.

Existing types of automatic cop-winding machines usually include amagazine containing a limited. number of empty cops from which a cop istaken at the time of the cop change. But such a magazine must bereplenished from time to time by hand.

Speaking generally, my invention provides a mechanism which conveys andautomatically supplies empty cops to several cop-winders at such timesas they are needed. Thus the invention eliminates cop magazines and theattendant necessity for replenishing such magazines by hand.

Briefly, I accomplish this result by for example causing the empty cops,each. carried in a traveling cup, having a cover with a nose orprojection thereon, to continually pass hoppers each of which leads to areceiving cup on a cop -winder. An empty cop is released from thetraveling cup into a hopper when the nose on the cup cover is contactedand the cover pushed aside by a trip or guard pawl located at the sideof the hopper. Each trip or guard pawl is brought into contactingposition by the control shaft of the respectively related winder aboutthe time the receiving cup of the winder is delivering a preceding emptycop to winding location and returning to its starting or receivingstation. In falling down the hopper, the empty cop strikes a withdrawingdevice which causes the guard pawl to be withdrawn to a position out ofthe path of the traveling cups and their covers. The empty cop, itself,thereafter continues its fall and drops into the receiving cup on thecop-winder to remain there until delivered to the winding station.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a preferred form of my inventionwith only a single cop-winder being shown. In these drawings Fig. 1 is aside elevation of the cop-winder, or say a single winding head of amultiple-head machine, and a section of the automatic cop supplyingmechanism; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same from the line I-I ofFig. 1; Fig. 3 is a similar front elevation showing the release of a copfrom the traveling cup; ig. 4 is a section at and adjacent a part of thecop supplying mechanism showing the mechanism at the time of the releaseof a cop; Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a copwinder, partly in sectionon the line II-II of Fig. 1, at the time of a cop replacement; Fig. 6 isa plan view of the cop-winder, partly in section to casing of gear box4.

show some of its gearing; Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view of the sideof the upper end of a hopper; Fig. 8 is an enlarged rear View of theupper end of a hopper.

Only such parts of the automatic cop-winder are shown here as arenecessary for the proper understanding of my present invention. Forinstance, the gear andthread guide of the copwinder, can be constructedaccording to my United States Patents No. 2,268,308 and No. 2,268,310respectively.

Gear box I, mounted on longitudinal bars 2 and 3 on machine frame 4contains the gear for driving cop driver-head 5 and also for operatingthe automatic cop change. The gears are driven from main shaft l5v byfriction wheel 1 and friction disc 8.

To the casing of gear box I is fastened a fixed rod 5 which carries onits outer end a cop holder [0 in. which holder-cup i l is both rotatablyseated and axially shiftable as shown in my U. S. Patent No. 2,268,310.Cop E2 is clamped between holder-cup I i and driver-head 5 during thethread winding process. The holder cup II and driver head 5 indicate thewinding station at the winding head illustrated.

Hopper I4 is fastened by screw I3 to the front of gearbox l and runsobliquely upward to be fastened again at its top to Wooden beam 3 byscrew 35. The bottom part of hopper I! is provided with front and rearlimiting Walls ii and I8 respectively which have between them sufficientclearance to easily accommodate a cop I9. Below hopper I4. is provided areceiving cup or pan 20, to hold a cop I9, and which is swivellinglyseated on pivot 22 carried on lever 2 1. Spring 23 causes receiving cup26 to press against stop 24 on lever 2 i.

Inside gear box I is journaled control shaft 25 (Fig. 6) on which arerigidly mounted gear wheel 21 and cam cylinder 28. Groove 28 of camcylinder 28 engages runner roller 3| ailixed to lever 30, onshaft 32which is rotatably journaled in the Shaft 32 also carries lever 33,,which with its forked end 34 (Fig. 2) grips pin 36 on lever Lever 35,like lever 2!, is mounted on shaft ill which shaft is rotatablyjournaled in the casing of gear box I and in projecting holder 38.During the winding, of thread on a cop, shaft 25 remains stationary. Butas soon as a cop is completely wound, a mechanism, not more particularlydescribed here, actuates gear wheel 2'1 to cause one complete rotationof shaft 25 and with it a complete rotation of cam cylinder 28. Forexample, as before indicated by the reference above to Patent No.2,268,308, the control shaft 25 may serve more or less the same purposesas the shaft M of that patent, and the mechanism shown and described inthe said patent for driving its control shaft 4I, may be used to rotatethe control shaft 25. This rotation of shaft 25 and cam cylinder 23first turns levers 30, 33, 35 and 2I so as to swing receiving cup 28,holding cop I 9, into cop delivery position (Fig. 5). As arm 2I moves toreturn cup 20 to its receiving position spring 23 permits cup 20 to turnon pivot 22 so as to free itself of cop I8 which is tightly clamped todriver-head 5 and holder-cup II. Completion of the rotation of shaft 25then turns the said levers back to return the receiving cup 20 to itsstarting position (Fig. 3).

On control shaft 25, outside gear box I is rigidly mounted lever 39,which by means of its pin 40, engages slot M of crank-arm 42, so that,as a result of the revolution of control shaft 25, crank-arm 42 is swungto and fro around the bolt 43 affixed to the side casing of gear box I.In the top arm of crank-arm 42 is articulated a. small rod 44, providedat its upper end with a barbed hook 45. On the underside of the upperpart of hopper I4 (Figs. 7 and 8) two shoulders Or lugs 46 and 41 act asbearings for rod 48 on which, outside the hopper, is eccentricallymounted plate 50 which is provided with a hub 49. Riveted in plate 50 isa. bolt 5| around which the trip or guard-pawl 52 can swing to and froacross the outer surface of said plate. Two pins 53 and 54, also rivetedin plate 50, act as limiting stops for guard-pawl 52. Since it iseccentrically mounted on rod 48, plate 58 falls forward because of itsown weight but is held in the position shown in Fig. l, by its nose 55coming to rest on stop 56 projecting from the underside of hopper I4.Another pin 51 is riveted at such a point on plate 50 that when said pinis engaged by the barbed hook 45 on rod 44, plate 58 is caused to assumethe upright position shown in Figs. 4 and '1.

Slightly below shoulders 46 and 41, two additional lugs 58 and 59 aremounted on hopper I4, in which lugs is fixed a pin 60 around which atrip withdrawer or tongue 62, fitted with counterweight 6I can freelyswing. The trip withdrawer or tongue 62 projects into hopper I4 throughopening 83 and is so equilibrated with counterweight 6| that pin 63inserted in counterweight 6I always lightly rests against rod 44,without however lifting said rod. The slightest pressure exerted ontongue 62 lifts rod 44 by means of pin 63, and consequently barbed hook45 on rod 44 out of engagement with pin 51, thus permitting plate 50 tofall forward by its weight to the position shown in Fig. 1.

To machine frame 4 are aflixed columns 64 and 65 on which are fittedgirders 66 and 61. Wooden beams 68 and I6 are fastened to upper girder61 and lower girder 66, respectively. A number of traveling cups 69carried in upright position on endless chains 14 and are guided betweenwooden beams I6 and 68, each cup 69 being provided at its bottom with aroller 10, running in grooves H in wooden beam I6, and at its top, witha pin 12 sliding in grooves 13 in wooden beam 68.

The mechanism for supplying empty cops to the cop-winder operates in thefollowing manner: The rotation of control shaft 25 in the copwinder, asnoted above, causes the receiving cup 28 to deliver an empty cop towinding position and then to return to its starting station. This samerotation of shaft 25 also swings crank-arm 42 to such an extent that itpushes rod 44 upward until barbed hook 45 thereon engages pin 51 onplate 50. Continued rotation of shaft 25 then swings crank-arm 42 backsoas to pull rod 44 forward and thus, through barbed hook 45 thereon andpin 51, turn plate 50 to the erect position shown in Fig. 4. As a resultof this upward turning of plate 50, pin 53 thereon lifts guard pawl 52until the latter falls backward by its own weight and comes to restagainst pin 54 On plate 58. If a traveling cup cover 11 happens to be inthe path of guard pawl 52 at this momerit, guard-pawl 52 merely fallslaterally on nose. 82 of cover 11 and continues its backward fall whencup 69 and its cover 11 pass out of the way. In the meantime receivingcup 28 has been swung back into position shown in Fig. 3.

When the next cup 69 is carried by chains 14 and 15 to hopper I 4, nose82 on its cover 11 strikes guard-pawl 52 and cover 11 is held back bythe guard-pawl so that as cup 69 continues on its way cover 11 is swungaside from cup 69 thus releasing cop 84. In falling down hopper I4, cop84 strikes tongue 62 in the hopper causing pin 63 to raise rod 44. Thelifting of rod 44 disengages barbed hook 45 thereon from pin 51 so thatplate 50, and with it guard-pawl 52, fall forward to non-contactingposition shown in Fig. 1. The cups 69 subsequently carried along abovehopper I4 will now pass without the interruption of guard-pawl 52 andtherefore will not release their cops. After striking tongue 62, cop 84continues to fall down hopper I4 coming finally to rest in receiving cup20, ready to receive it.

Where an empty cup 69 passes a cop-winder in which a cop replacement hasjust occurred, and therefore guard-pawl 52 is in contacting position,cover 11 of cup 69 will be merely swung aside without, of course,releasing a cop. In such case tongue 62 will not be actuated, so thatguard-pawl 52 will remain in contacting position (Fig. 4) until a fullcup 69 comes along and releases its con-tents.

It will be seeen: that although empty cops are continually passing acop-winder, ready to be released to it, such release does not occuruntil there has been completion of the thread-winding process and thefull cop has been replaced by an empty one and the cop-winder requires anew empty cop to hold it for the next replacement; also that the openingof an empty cop traveling cup does not result in the withdrawal of theguard-pawl from its operative position where it can effect the nextrequired cop release. Also it will be understood that in practice therewill be many cop winders, for example like that shown in Fig. 1, mountedon the rails 2 and 3, and that a single belt or endless chain of copcups 69, 14, 15 may run along and serve many, and perhaps the whole, ofthis line of winders. Also there may be a. similar line of winders onthe opposite side of the shaft 6 from the winder of Fig. l, and thissecond line of winders too may be served by the same belt of cops, as isapparent from Fig. 1. The cup belt may be driven constantly, or in someinstances it may be suflicient to drive it intermittently. At some placethe empty cups 69 of the belt, that is to say those that have lost theircops to winders, have new cops furnished to them. This can be by hand,or automatically by some appropriate mechanism. However the details ofmechanism for this purpose, if such mechanism is used, forms no part ofthe present invention.

It will be understood that my invention is not limited to the details ofconstruction and operation described above and shown in the drawings,except as appears hereafter in the claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a plurality of copwinders, each having a controlshaft, of a conveyor disposed adjacent said cop-winders, andcontinuously run along said cop-winders, a plurality of carriers forcops mounted on said conveyor, a cover for each cop-carrier to retaincops therein, and a trip at each of said cop-winders, operable by thecontrol shaft of its respectively adjacent cop-winder to trippingposition, to open said covers of said cop-carriers and release copsindividually from said carriers. I

2. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized by the fact that theconveyor is an endless belt.

3. The subject matter of claim 1, characterized by the fact that tripwithdrawers each disposed in a path of cops released from the carriersand actuatable by released cops traveling their paths, are provided towithdraw the trips from tripping position.

4. The combination of a plurality of cop-winders each having a windingstation, a cop receiver to deliver empty cops to the winding station anda control shaft to cause the delivery of an empty cop to the windingstation on the discharge of a wound cop from the winding station, of aconveyor disposed adjacent said cop-winders to deliver empty cops tosaid cop receivers, a plurality of carriers for empty cops mounted onsaid conveyer, a power device to drive said conveyor substantiallycontinuously to carry empty cops past each of said cop receivers and atrip at each of said cop-winders operable by the control shaft of itsrespectively adjacent cop-winder substantially upon the delivery of acop from the respective cop-receiver to the Winding station to releasefrom said conveyor the cop thereon next coming to the respective copwinder to enable said cop to pass to the cop receiver of the cop-winder.

5. The combination with a plurality of copwinders, each having a controlshaft, of a conveyor disposed adjacent said cop-winders, a plurality ofcarriers for cops mounted on said conveyor, each of said carriers havinga cover thereon to hold cops in the respective carriers as the conveyorcarries the carriers from cop-winder to cop-winder, a power device todrive said conveyor substantially continuously to maintain a supply ofcops passing each of said cop-winders,

and a trip at each of said cop-winders operable by the control shaft ofits respectively adjacent cop-winder to a position to individually tripsaid covers and to thereby separately release the cops from saidcarriers.

6. The subject matter of claim 5, characterized by the fact that tripwithdrawers each disposed in the paths of cops released from thecarriers and actuatable by the released cops traveling their path, areprovided to withdraw the trips from tripping position.

7. The combination with a plurality of copwinders each having a hopper,a control shaft, a cop receiver and a winding station, of a conveyordisposed adjacent said cop-winders, a plurality of carriers for emptycops mounted on said conveyor, each of said carriers having a movablecover thereon, a power device to drive said conveyor substantiallycontinuously to maintain a supply of empty cops passing each of saidcop-winders, and a trip at each of said copwinders operable by thecontrol shaft of its respectively adjacent cop-winder upon thecompletion of winding of a cop at the respective winding station to atripping position to individually trip the cover of the next cop-filledpassing carrier and to thereby release the empty cop therein-into itsassociated hopper for transfer therefrom into its related cop-receiverand conveyance by the latter to the respective winding station.

8. The subject matter of claim 7 characterized by the fact that a. tripwithdrawer is provided in each hopper to be actuated by each cop as ittravels in the hopper to withdraw its respective trip from releasingposition.

WALTER SCHWEITER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 492,879 Stoner Mar. 7, 1893 1,227,754 Colman May 29, 19171,991,699 Reiners et a1 Feb. 19, 1935 2,040,023 Reiners et al May 5,1936 2,234,355 Reiners et al. Mar. 11, 1941 2,236,300 Reiners et al.Mar. 25, 1941 2,273,588 Meister Feb. 17, 1942 2,306,871 Esser et a1 Dec.29, 1942 2,451,975 Rayburn et al Oct. 19, 1948 OTHER REFERENCES SerialNo. 381,944, Reiners et al. (A. P. (3.), published June 1, 1943.

